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Understanding the mechanisms allowing brains to collect sensory input and control adaptive behaviour represents one of the most challenging endeavours in science. The goal of this symposium is to review progress towards an integrated understanding of the genetic, molecular, and neuronal basis of behaviour in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. We will examine how our knowledge about biological neural processes can influence (and be influenced by) the design of robotic neural systems. Our aim is to bring together researchers from the Drosophila and insect community with experts in computational neurobiology and robotics. We will promote discussion on how to quantitatively describe working hypotheses about brain functions and behavioural control, and how bio-inspired robots may be used to test the validity and limits of our current models.

Conference format:

· lectures by invited high level speakers

· short talks by young & early stage researchers

· poster sessions, round table and open discussion periods

· forward look panel discussion about future developments

Invited speakers will include:

· Alexander Borst - NEURO-MPG, DE

· Michael Dickinson - Caltech, US

· Barry Dickson - Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, AT

· Dario Floreano - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), CH

· Nicolas Franceschini - The Institute of Movement Sciences, FR

· Mark Frye - University of California, Los Angeles, US

· Steven Fry - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), CH

· Martin Goepfert - University of Cologne, DE

· Bill Hansson - Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, DE

· Martin Heisenberg - University of Wuerzburg, DE

· Mikko Juusola - The University of Sheffield, UK

· Holger Krapp - Imperial College London, UK

· Gero Miesenböck - University of Oxford, UK

· Gerry Rubin - HHMI-Janelia Farm Research Campus, US

· Marla Sokolowski - University of Toronto Mississauga, CA

· Roland Strauss - Johannes Gutenberg University, DE

· Barbara Webb - University of Edinburgh, UK

A certain number of grants will be available for young researchers to cover the conference fee and possibly part of the travel costs. Grant requests should be made by ticking appropriate field(s) in the paragraph "Grant application" of the application formhttp://www2.esf.org/asp/esfrcaf.asp?...e=324&meetno=1